Woman crashes into five cars after drinking wine at birthday party

Woman crashes into five cars after drinking wine at birthday party

A mother who is also a city property executive crashed into five parked cars while driving home drunk from her husband’s 40th birthday party.

The appalling thing is, that Gemma Hewes, 40, had children in the back seat when she got behind the wheel of her 4×4 Land Rover and drove it under the influence of alcohol.

Wimbledon magistrates heard that not only was she inebriated but she was also distracted by a mobile phone call and swerved into a line of parked cars.

As a result of the collision, the steering column of the Renault Espace was snapped off and in the process writing the vehicle off.

Mrs Hewes, who is a director at BNP Paribas Real Estate tearfully pleaded with the car owners not to call the police, confessing that she had been drinking.

Despite her pleas not to call the police, they phoned 999 and Hewes was arrested at her £1.15 million home in Southfields.

Tom Dunn, her counsel said it was “a dark day” for Hewes, who admitted to driving with excess alcohol and driving without due care and attention.

She was fined £1,350 and ordered to pay £175 in court cost and fees and banned from driving for 17 months.

It turned out that she was more than twice the drink-drive limit when she crashed into the other cars with her children in the back at about 8.15pm on May 7 in Kenilworth Avenue, Wimbledon.

When the crash happened, Stephen Holsgrove, 57, a company director, heard a loud bang outside his home and looked outside to see his car as well as four of his neighbours’ cars damaged with a woman getting two children out of her Land Rover.

When the police arrived she told the officers that she was using her hands-free car kit when she collided with t5he other vehicles. She also said that she had a glass of champagne and two glasses of wine.

Mr Dunn told the court: “This is a very dark day for Gemma Hewes and her family. She is not a drinker, she rarely drinks, but on this occasion consumed some alcohol and did not realise she was impaired by alcohol at the time she drove.”

“She recalls a parked car protruding and obviously overcompensated and the steering column then broke and she was unable to avoid contact with other cars.”

The woman is now paying back the car owners for the damage she caused.